On this date 150 years ago, President Lincoln made his State of the Union address to Congress. In the message, he stresssed that "the Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable means must be employed."

At Ship Island, Mississippi, the first of the troops in General Butler's expedition to the Gulf Coast area were landed. The Federal steamship "Constitution" carried this initial offensive force, made up of the 26th Massachusetts Regiment and the 9th Connecticut Regiment.